Return to the Sky
by justplainrii
Summary: Hinata used to love daydreaming, but as she got older, she began to avoid it, viewing it as weakness.  However, in the winter following the chuunin exams, an encounter with a person that knew Naruto may very well change her perspective on things.  Oneshot


Return to the Sky

(Repeat to Yourself: It's Just a Dream)

Even Konohagakure, the city where summer seemed to last forever, had to succumb to winter at some point; although it became little more than a passing thought once the season was over.

The normally lush, green, bustling city seemed to fall asleep as November and December fell upon it, the leaves that had been orange and golden in October blowing away with the wind to parts unknown. The trees slumbered, naked and brown, as snow began to arrive―in massive quantities.

It came slowly, at first, with the trees perhaps still holding on to the smallest scraps of leaf and letting the village keep its name. Tiny pieces of white drifted from the iron-gray sky, sparse at first, and pleasant. Children would be distracted from their studies to cluster at the windows and marvel at the first snowfall, and even civilians would find themselves happily distracted by the weather for just a small while.

In just a matter of weeks, maybe even days, the sky would seemingly open her arms and let loose the buckets of snow which had previously been tossed, enticingly, handful by handful into the air. Operations would be shut down for nearly weeks at a time, during the fiercest blizzards, and even the ANBU found themselves left with a great amount of free time on their hands.

By December, there would be at least a foot of snow on the ground, swept clear of the streets by wind-based jutsu, but allowed to heap itself on the roofs and trees. A bluish haze settled over everything, and time seemed to slow. People moved slower, talked slower, and some hardly even left their houses.

Hinata was not one of those people. In a way.

Certainly, she enjoyed being inside in weather like this; to sit at the kotatsu and perhaps read a book or work on something or another. To work on a distraction. But there was something about a winter sky, with its falling snow and sleepy, layering clouds that she just loved to lose herself in.

Or, at least, that she used to.

Some of her earliest memories found her sitting, legs swinging, off the edge of the outside hallways in the Hyuuga complex, and just watching the clouds go by. Sometimes she would reach up, as if trying to grab the clouds and the snow and bring them closer to her. But never on a clear day.

There was something substantial in a cloudy sky, as if she could travel there and rest in the clouds like they were pillows for as long as she wished. In her mind, she did. And she did it often, sitting for hours and imagining wonderful, wonderful things.

But then a servant would come, saying that her father requested her presence, and she'd be forced back onto the earth. Earth, where everything that bothered her was.

"You must stop daydreaming, Hinata-san," her nurse would urge her, gently. "It is unbecoming of a young lady."

"You must stop daydreaming, my dear," her mother would tease, quietly, in the hallway. "If your mind wanders too far, it may become lost, and not be able to return to your body!"

"You must stop daydreaming, daughter," her father would command, sternly. "It is weakness, in a ninja."

Her father always seemed the most persuasive.

As she got older, Hinata daydreamed less. Especially when it became harder and harder to escape the earth, the things that kept her attached to it pulling, harder and harder, at her feet.

Sunrise, sunset. The sky waited.

By the time Hinata was 12, a failure of the chuunin exams, she almost never daydreamed.

There was simply too much to think about to allow her mind to free itself and rest in the clouds, if even for a few, brief minutes. The uncertain air that surrounded Konoha wasn't any help, what with the recent death of the Hokage, and Orochimaru's attacks; there wasn't hardly anyone that felt slightly worried about the future of the world.

But there was also her family, which affected her more than anything. There was Hanabi, there was Neji, there was her father... and then there was Naruto. Unrelated by blood, but influential nonetheless.

Of course he hardly paid her any mind, but she couldn't help but worry for him; training out in the middle of nowhere with one of the _Sannin_, of all things. There were_ things_ out there, _dreadful_ things―like Missing Nin and goodness knows what else. He had protection, she knew, some of the finest around. The Legendary Jiraiya could handle anything. He wasn't famous for simply being _there_, after all. But Naruto wasn't very legendary at all. And so, she worried.

Thoughts like these kept her mind grounded to the earth, holding it tightly with worrying hands.

Sunset, sunrise. The sky waited.

Since she could no longer escape her thoughts as easily as when she had been a child, Hinata found other ways to fend them off, or at least get them to behave themselves.

She tried books; slightly effective, but extremely temporary and miserably ineffective at keeping the sounds of reality from reaching her.

She tried practicing an instrument; she found herself hopelessly bad at the shamisen, and it sat collecting dust at the back of her closet.

She tried practicing her nin- and genjutsu with Kurenai-sensei and Kiba-kun and Shino-kun; it worked, to some extent, but was tremendously exhausting, and left her weakened body more susceptible to the most worrisome of her thoughts.

And so, she came to her best resort: walking.

She would walk, extensively, through the streets of Konoha, just for the sake of walking. Anywhere, really, as long as it was far away from her home. Home wasn't much of a help in soothing her mind.

Sometimes she would go to the library; reading was easier there. Other times, she would buy something to snack on from a street vendor, and quietly eat it while sitting on a bench; where it was didn't matter, as long as it was well away from her home. She might just walk and listen to people speaking to each other. And other times she would just watch the snow fall – but never letting her mind wander too far. That would allow the worry to come back.

Sunrise, sunset. The sky waited.

It was on a drowsy December afternoon that Hinata decided to take a walk, and let the snow cluster in her hair, and melt, and cluster all over again. She thought, perhaps, of buying a sweet potato for lunch; she was a little hungry, after all. Maybe, yes, she would get that, and then go to the drug store and see if there was anything worth buying. Maybe some new sort of makeup that would make her look just a little nicer. Maybe some sort of candy. Maybe a book. A distraction. Maybe.

It was then that she saw the girl.

She was beautiful, in a very subtle way; not much older than her, standing in the middle of the street. She had beautiful eyes, Hinata thought, that were round and kind; yet they seemed cold, almost empty, at the same time.

And she seemed hopelessly lost, her eyebrows knit together as she glanced from one side of the street to the next, her hands clasping her elbows.

Hinata stood still on her side of the street and simply looked at her for a short while, but when the girl didn't move from her spot, she decided to say something. A distraction, to keep her thoughts out of her head. To keep the worry away.

She reached to tap the woman on the shoulder, but she turned around before Hinata could touch her. Their eyes met for a moment. Beautiful eyes. "E-excuse me, are you lost?" Hinata asked.

"Lost?" said the girl, as if the word were foreign. "Oh, lost! Yes, somewhat. I don't know if you'd be able to help much, though..."

"I can try my best," said Hinata. "If you need to find somewhere, I-I think I might be able to help you."

"Well, it's not so much a _place_ I'm looking for," the girl said, putting her finger on her pale, pale chin, "but, rather, a _person_. Oh, and I'm not sure if you'd know him at all."

"Well, I still might be a-able to help," said Hinata. "I might."

"Well, if you insist..." said the girl. "Do you know a boy named Naruto? If you don't know him, it's okay, because I'm sure-"

Hinata's heart nearly skipped a beat. "N-naruto-kun?"she said. "Y-yes, I know him."

"Really?" the girl said, her cold, beautiful eyes becoming warm, just for a moment. Hinata nodded. "Oh, where is he? Do you know where he lives?"

"H-he's n-not here, actually," said Hinata. "He left a f-few months ago, t-to train."

"Oh, did he?" said the girl, frowning. "Oh, dear. I traveled all this way for nothing?" Hinata didn't reply to this, as the girl frowned. "I wonder what I'm going to have to say to Zabuza-san, though... Say, Hatake Kakashi hasn't left too, has he?"

Hinata shook her head. "N-no, he's still here."

"Then he'll be in a good mood, at least," said the girl. "Ah, oh well. Thanks for helping, anyways!"

The girl began to walk away, and normally, Hinata would have let her leave. But something inside her, something small, reached out to the girl in the form of her voice. "W-wait just a m-moment!" she said.

"Huh?" Haku turned around.

"H-how do you know N-naruto-kun?" Hinata asked.

The girl was quiet for what seemed like forever, the snow falling slowly, slowly. The girl smiled.

"Ah! Well, you see, he sort of... helped me out, about a half a year back," she said. "I think... he was on a mission of some sort?"

A mission. Hinata remembered, vaguely, some sort of fuss over it being mis-labeled or something like that, and the Uchiha boy being injured in the process. She had heard nothing of Naruto's involvement. "Oh," she simply said.

"I'm from the... Land of Waves," said the girl, the slightest of pauses in her voice. "Naruto-kun... He helped my family, you see. When I was given the chance, I thought I should come over and see how he was doing, and thank him."

So Naruto was somebody this girl admired. Something they could both talk about, perhaps. A distraction. "W-well, that's very nice of you," said Hinata. "You're lucky you're able to come visit from a-all the way over there."

"Mm! Certainly wasn't easy," the girl continued, "but my father and I made it all the same."

"I see," said Hinata. "W-well, are you going to be leaving, since he's not here?"

"Perhaps," said the girl. "But, I won't have to leave for a while. Say! You know Naruto-kun, don't you?"

Hinata turned slightly pink. "W-well, I don't know him all that _well_, but, we are... f-friends... I guess..." She poked her fingers together.

"Why don't I stay with you for the afternoon? You can tell me what he's been up to, can't you?" the girl said.

"W-well, I s-suppose I can," Hinata said. She really wanted to. Something to talk about. To keep her mind away from the worrying things. "There's b-been quite a lot happening, lately."

"Then we'll have lots to talk about, I guess," the girl said, smiling again, closing her eyes, her beautiful cold eyes. "Tell me, what's your name?"

"Hyuuga Hinata. A-and you?"

The girl stopped, paused in thought for a moment. "Let's see... well, I guess you can call me Haku. All right?"

Hinata nodded. "That s-sounds good. So, Haku-san, where would you like to go to talk? We can't stay in the m-middle of the street, you know."

Haku laughed. "True enough. Are you hungry? We could go get something to eat."

"W-well, I was going to get some sweet potatoes for l-lunch," Hinata said. "Do you like them?"

Haku said, "I don't see why not. I'll just have a taste, though―I already ate, you see."

"Ah, I-I see," said Hinata. "Well, follow me, please. Th-this way."

Leading the way, Hinata guided Haku to the sweet potato vendor that she was planning on visiting, and ordered one for herself. She let it warm her fingers through her mittens and the newspaper it was wrapped in as they walked away, when Haku suddenly began to laugh.

"Aren't you going to take a bite?" she asked. Hinata flushed, and bit through the hot skin of the potato, and the bright taint of orange shone through the brown. It was savory-sweet, as expected. "Good, is it?"

"V-very," Hinata said. "Shall we sit?"

"Oh, of course," said Haku, and began to look around. "This bench here, will it do?"

It was a simple, metal thing, painted green and dusted slightly with snow. "Yes, I think so," Hinata said.

While Hinata brushed the seat off with her mitten before she sat, Haku, oddly enough, did not. "Aren't you g-going to get wet?" Hinata asked.

"Wet from what?" said Haku, before realizing what exactly she was sitting in. "Oh, the snow! It's okay. I'm not afraid of a little snow."

"But you'll ruin your clothes," said Hinata, when Haku laughed again. "What's so f-funny?"

"You're interesting," Haku said. "Don't you know that fresh snow doesn't stain? It's no different than pure water. It's only the snow that's been dirtied that stains, like that pile over there. See?" She pointed with her bare hand to a gray, rocky pile that teetered over the top of a stone fence. "Fall into that, and you'll need a good bath! But just a little dusting on a bench? It's just cold for a little while, and you'll get a little wet spot, but it'll dry."

"So I s-see," said Hinata, and took another bite of the potato. "Would you like some, Haku-san?"

Haku shook her head. "No, not yet. Tell me about Naruto-kun. What has he been doing, lately?"

"Well, there's been ch-chuunin exams, lately," Hinata said. "A few months ago."

"Chuunin exams! And he participated, I bet?" said Haku. "He's such a competitive person, it's hard to think he didn't."

"Oh, yes, he d-did," said Hinata. "I did t-too, but... well, I got e-eliminated during the first round of tournaments."

"Tournaments?" Haku tilted her head to the side, confusedly, her dark, dark hair twisting into her lap. "What do you mean? Is that how chuunin exams work?" Hinata opened her mouth to reply, but Haku interrupted again and said, "Oh, pardon me... I'm not a ninja, you see, just a civilian, and I don't know... a great deal about all this. Perhaps you could explain?"

Hinata found a small laugh escape. "Y-yes, I'll try," she said. "You see, gennin from all over the countries gathered here this summer; and we had to do a written test first, then we had an e-elimination round in the forest."

"Elimination round?" said Haku.

"We had to gather sc-scrolls," Hinata explained, "from other participants. It cut the amount of teams in h-half, at least."

"I see, I see," said Haku. "Then what happened?"

"We were p-paired off, after that, for fighting, to see who would continue on," said Hinata. "I-I... I got paired off with my c-cousin, and he's m-much stronger than m-m-me." She tried not to think about it as she spoke. No, no worrying over that. It was said and done. It was in the past.

"Oh, are you all right?" Haku asked, worry in her face. "I hope you weren't hurt much."

The memory of the pain Neji had put her through leaked into her mind, like a faulty pipe. That pain in her chest, her nearly-failed heart... Naruto, rushing to her side, looking so scared... "I-I was f-fine..." Hinata said quietly. "I'm f-fine." She became very interested in the sweet potato. No worrying, no worrying.

"Don't lie, please, don't," Haku said gently, ushering Hinata's eyes into hers with her voice. "If you were hurt, then you have no reason to lie about it. Pain makes you stronger, doesn't it? Defeat is nothing to be ashamed of."

"I guess..." said Hinata. No, no, not this. A distraction, a distraction. Please. "Oh, but we're supposed to be talking about N-naruto-kun, aren't we? He won his f-first match." Get off the subject, keep the distractions. Keep away the worry.

"That's wonderful!" Haku said, smiling. "Who did he spar with?"

"One of my t-teammates, Kiba-kun," said Hinata. "They both did v-very well!"

"I bet they did," Haku said. "And what happened then?"

"Well... you must have heard about the attacks r-recently," said Hinata. Newspaper crinkled beneath her mittens. "One of the Missing Nin, Orochimaru. He killed the H-hokage."

"Oh... yes, I_ have_ heard of that," said Haku. "That must have messed up the exams quite nicely."

"They c-canceled them," said Hinata. "Only one participant got to become a ch-chuunin, and he doesn't even care!" Another laugh.

"Is he a decent ninja, though?" Haku said, laughing too.

"Yes, he's very bright," said Hinata. "I don't know him too well, h-however."

"So I see," said Haku. "Did Naruto get to his second fight?"

"N-no," said Hinata. "The attacks were before he could g-go, and then h-he had to go on a rescue mission with some of my c-classmates."

"Sending children on a rescue mission?" said Haku, and her cold eyes grew very sad. "...what is this world coming to?"

"They say that th-the current generation is one of the b-best yet," Hinata said; but not me, not me, she thought. Hadn't Haku said she wasn't a ninja? She supposed that the term "rescue mission" was vague enough to guess about, but still... "They're f-fully capable of doing what even the A-ANBU could. I think."

"Well, that's a_ little_ comforting," said Haku. "Still... it makes me sad that they send children after one of the _Sannin. _He _is _a Sannin, right? Orochimaru? I'm not too knowledgeable on these things..."

Hinata nodded. "Yes, but they wouldn't send gennin after Orochimaru_ himself_. They were sent after his st-students," she replied. "They're not as d-dangerous."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that," said Haku, looking into the sky. "Sometimes the students surpass their masters, and the masters don't even know it, until it's too late."

There was silence, save for the sound of people in the distance and the newspaper crackling in protest to Hinata's grasp. Haku suddenly seemed to realize something, and gave a hasty smile.

"Oh, sorry, sorry! Did I scare you a little? I'm sorry," she said, noticing Hinata's slightly-scared expression―even though Hinata almost always looked slightly-scared. "Honestly, I must read too many adventure novels, saying things like that. Do excuse me."

"It's a-all right," Hinata said. "I guess it's true that students s-surpass their masters_ eventually, _though."

"Indeed! That's how it would seem, anyways," said Haku, when suddenly, "Oh! By the way, do you know that black-haired boy? The teammate of Naruto-kun's?"

"Uchiha Sasuke?" said Hinata, and Haku nodded. "N-no, not that well. He was the one that was k-kidnapped by Orochimaru's students. N-naruto-kun led the team to g-get him back."

"Kidnapped by him? Orochimaru?" said Haku. "Goodness, why?"

"I'm not sure, myself," said Hinata.

"I see..." Haku said. "Then, did they get him back?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, we don't even know if he's even a-alive," she said.

"Oh, I have a feeling... he is," said Haku. "I just think so."

"W-why is that?" Hinata asked.

"Well... Haku said, thoughtfully; she clasped her fingers together, "I met him, also. He was such a serious person! But a very tough one, at that. I don't think he'd be the type to give up without a good fight. But," she added, with a mischievous smirk, "he didn't leave as good an impression on me as Naruto did. Not very friendly, that one."

"W-what exactly do you think of N-naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, very quietly. "How did you m-meet him?"

"It was a bit of a chance encounter, really," Haku said, looking upwards as if recalling a pleasant memory. "I found him passed-out in the forest!"

"Goodness!" Hinata gasped, holding the sweet potato to her mouth. "Was he h-hurt or s-s-something?"

"Oh, heavens, no," Haku said, waving her hand to brush away the notion. "He was just exhausted from training, and slept on the ground. I was out getting some herbs―my father was sick, you know; he and his team were assigned to... protect us, you see―and I found him there. So you know what I did?" Hinata shook her head. "Well, I woke him up, and I told him that he'd catch his death of cold, sleeping out in the open like that! He isn't very smart, is he?"

"Not the smartest... b-but... he's... very st-strong-willed," Hinata said, smiling slightly. Not like me, not like me, she thought.

"He certainly is," said Haku. "We ended up talking for quite a while. To be truthful, it was the closest I had even gotten to him or... any of the other ninja with him, for that matter. I never expected ninja to be so... kind, I guess!"

"Not all of them are... are c-cruel, I guess," said Hinata. But most are, most are, she thought. Cruel and cold, that is strength in a ninja, so said her father.

"That's true! The people here seem _so_ nice," said Haku, smiling. "Everyone seems happy to live here."

"It's nice," said Hinata, looking at the ground, but also the sky, and Haku sitting next to her. She wished she could only see the ground. "It's nice."

Haku looked at Hinata for a while, the snow falling. "Are you happy, Hinata-chan?" she asked, after a good long while.

"H-happy?" said Hinata. Haku nodded.

"Yes, happy. You seem so much sadder than everyone," she said. "Is there something the matter?"

"Oh, I... I don't have anything to _complain_ about, r-really," said Hinata. "I'm not sick, I'm... I'm..." Worried, she wanted to say, so badly. But no, she couldn't let it out. "I suppose I'm just t-tired, that's it."

"...so I see," Haku said, smiling gently. Unexpectedly, she stood. "Come, follow me. I'm kind of tired of sitting on this bench. You wouldn't mind terribly if we went somewhere else?" Hinata shook her head. "All right, then. I think I saw this lovely bridge on my way in... perhaps we should go there. Okay?"

"O-okay," Hinata said, and stood as well.

As they walked, tall girl, short girl, they left only one set of footprints.

It wasn't long before they found the bridge Haku had in mind. "There, do you see it?" she said, her eyes lighting up as they reached the top of the thing. She leaned over the edge and looked at the river it crossed, unfrozen by the cold. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Y-yes, it is," Hinata said―she had crossed the bridge many times on her way to school, but never really bothered to look at the water beneath. She much rather preferred to look at the sky. When she still looked at the sky.

"It reminds me of when I was little," Haku said, tilting her head dreamily. "There was a small stream that ran about a... half-mile from my house, and I'd sit there by myself sometimes when I just felt like... thinking, I guess." She rested her head on her arms as she sighed. "You have a place like that, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata didn't quite know what to say. The sky, should she talk about the sky? The clouds, the wonderful feeling of release?

Or should she stay silent? This girl was a total stranger, outside of her knowing Naruto. Why should she say anything?

Why shouldn't she say anything?

"...the sky," she said.

"What?" said Haku, turning her head to face Hinata.

"...I like to look at the sky," Hinata said. "I don't like to a-a-any more, though..."

"Oh? Whyever not?" Haku asked, righting herself.

Hinata was silent for a good while, her shoulders rising. "I-I-I don't know..."

Haku looked at her, worried and confused, her lips pursing. "Well... why do, or _did_, you like the sky so much?" she asked. "Do you know why it relaxed you?"

Hinata didn't quite know what to say, her fingers rustling the newspaper, her teeth biting her lip. "I don't know..." she said again. "I guess... th-that I could just daydream there. Just daydream. But I don't daydream. No, not any m-more." The final statement came with a firmness, one that had been instilled long, long ago. No more daydreaming.

"Why don't you daydream any more?" Haku asked. "If you ask me, that's one of the best parts of... well, being alive, I guess." She smiled.

"...it is weakness in a nin," Hinata replied, trying hard to keep the worry out. She wanted to just run away... but from what?

"...so I see," Haku replied quietly. "But... how is it weakness?"

Hinata remained silent, and took a bite of the potato.

"It's just daydreaming, after all..." Haku continued, sighing and leaning against the railing again. She looked at the sky. "Sometimes, it's the only thing we have to keep us _together_, I think."

"Wh-what is?" Hinata didn't look up.

"Well... there's just a lot in this world to worry about, I guess," said Haku. "Wars and death and... well, you know what I mean. A person needs to find a way to _escape_ that, or it'll swallow you whole. Daydreaming's always helped me, just a little." She looked at Hinata, and gently, gently smiled. "Even ninja would have to 'escape' every once in a while, don't you think? It's not weakness."

Hinata's eyes remained fixed on the potato, but Haku's expression (unavoidable, thanks to the Byakugan) almost seemed to calm her. But she said nothing.

"Ahh, I'm just hopeless," Haku said, looking up again. "I'm sorry, I probably just don't get it. Ninja have their own sort of... 'way,' is it?"

"N-nindo," Hinata replied. "A code of honor a-and behavior."

"Is that it? I thought so," said Haku. "So daydreaming isn't in nindo?"

"...well, n-not... not really..." Hinata said. "I just... I just d-don't _feel_ like it sh-should... I guess..."

"I see," said Haku. She didn't look at Hinata, but at the river.

Hinata's focus moved from the potato to her feet, and she grimaced. Her father's face was appearing in her mind. A failure, a failure, your sister does better. No, no, keep the worry away. Keep it away!

A distraction. A distraction!

Say something!

"I-I-I s-sometimes wish th-that I c-could, though..." Hinata said, her voice faltering so badly that words could barely be made out. "Just... let myself go. Go a-and d-d-daydream. The world... it just..."

"You going to need to work harder, little one," her mother had said, softly, as she was tucking her into bed. "It's going to be difficult with a new baby around, I won't be able to take care of you as well."

"You need to work harder, Hinata-chan," Iruka-sensei had said, a sympathetic smile on his face. "You're doing wonderfully, at the moment, but I _know_ you can do better than this."

"You must work harder, Hinata," her father had said, his eyes unloving, as she lay in the hospital. "You are a disgrace to our clan."

Always harder. Better. More than usual.

Nobody had ever told her that what she was giving, what she was doing at that moment was good enough. She had never even told it to herself.

Always wanting change.

Change brought worry. Worry kept the sky away, and the earth closer, and closer.

"...sometimes I just wish the world w-wouldn't change at all," she said softly, barely audible. "That would be nice..."

The snow continued to fall. The sky waited.

"Well," Haku said, after taking a nice breath in, "the world can't really _stop_ changing. That's how life is, Hinata-chan. Change, change, change. We have to learn to go along with it."

"I know..." she said. I'm constantly reminded of it, she thought.

"But," she said, finally standing and looking at Hinata again, with a smile like sunlight through a wall of ice, "sometimes it's nice to pretend that it isn't. You know what's nice about the sky?" She didn't wait for a reply. "The sky has its own agenda," she said. "The sky doesn't care about what happens on earth. It rains, it snows, it shows the sun―all on its own terms. It doesn't _change_."

"B-but, you just said that the sky changes," Hinata said, facing Haku. "It rains and snows and―"

"What I said is that the sky doesn't care about the earth," Haku said, almost cheekily. "The sky runs on its own accord, Hinata-chan. The sky doesn't _change_. We have seasons and things here, and plants that grow and die, and... well, _change._ And you said yourself you don't like change, didn't you?" Hinata found herself nodding. "The sky's always going to be the same old sky, no matter where you are. It's a place where you can go _without_ change. Any time you want."

Haku reached for Hinata's forehead, as if she wanted to touch it―but she didn't.

"The sky will never change, Hinata-chan," she said. "Don't be afraid to go there and daydream, if change is what makes you worry so much. It's okay to be afraid of those things. It's okay to want to leave."

Haku looked upwards, as the snow fell down, down. "Change doesn't matter in the sky. It'll always be waiting for you, no matter what's been happening."

Hinata stared in awe at the lovely, sad person beside her, not quite sure what to say.

It was okay to fear change.

It was okay to escape.

It was okay.

It was the most amazing thing she had ever heard in her entire life.

"Haku!" a voice from somewhere said, a male voice that sounded rough and weary. "Haku, where are you?"

"Ah!" Haku's face lit up. "Zabuza-san, I'm right here!"

"I've been looking all over this damn place for you," the voice said, its owner appearing―Hinata would probably have been scared of him, but her body was filled with such a feeling of undefinable relief that she simply wasn't capable of it. "What are you doing, looking at the water like that?"

"I was having a conversation," Haku replied brightly. "This is Hyuuga Hinata-chan. Hinata-chan, this is my father, Zabuza."

"Fath―wait a minute, how can she―" Zabuza began, before stopping himself; Haku seemed to be glaring a little. "Ah, well. Yes, uh, nice to meet you."

"You as well," Hinata said, the smallest of smiles on her face. She couldn't remember her voice ever sounding clearer, more confident.

"Did you find the kid?" Zabuza asked.

"Naruto-kun? No, he's gone; out training," said Haku. "You don't know where he is, do you, Hinata-chan?" Hinata shook her head.

"Then, since he's not here, we should leave," he said, and Haku pouted slightly.

"Do we have to leave right now?" Haku asked, and Zabuza nodded. "Oh well. Hinata-chan, thank you for sharing the afternoon with me."

"Will you come back, sometime?" Hinata said. "Oh, I never let you have any of the potato..."

"Don't worry about it, I'm not that hungry," Haku said. "As for us visiting... well, what do you think, Father?"

"We'll see," Zabuza said, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Come on, let's go."

Haku waved as she took Zabuza's arm and began to walk away, before she stopped and called, loudly, as if nobody could hear, "Hinata-chan!"

"What is it?" Hinata replied.

"You look really cute when you smile, you know that?" Haku called. "And your voice is so pretty when you don't stutter!"

Hinata turned a rather bright shade of pink and closed her eyes, happily. "Thank you!" she said, and Haku nodded before continuing to walk away.

She then turned her gaze skyward to watch the clouds, thick and lilac-gray, still releasing snow upon the earth, regardless of what the earth thought, as Haku had said.

She was unaware of the conversation going on, mere yards away from her: "How could she see us? I thought nobody was supposed to see us. _Kakashi_ didn't see me"

"So it would seem. But for some reason... I think she was supposed to, Zabuza-san. It just feels like she was supposed to."

She was unaware that a few people had stopped to stare at her as she sat on the bench and stood on the bridge, seemingly talking to herself.

She was unaware that where Haku had sat as they talked about Naruto, there was no mark in the dusting of snow that anyone had even been there.

She was unaware that her sweet potato was going cold.

She was unaware of the snow, the cold, the river, the bridge; unaware of the things people said about the Hyuuga, that some said the pure-hearted of the clan were blessed to see spirits.

She was unaware that she even _was _a Hyuuga, and a disgrace at that.

Because Hinata was daydreaming for the first time in what seemed like forever, every thought loosing itself from her body as she flew in and out of the clouds, free of change at last.

The sky had waited.

And she had returned.

-///-

Author's Note―

Haku is referred to as "she" in this fanfiction, because Hinata assumed that was his true gender.

Or is it? I confirm and deny nothing.

Review if you liked it!


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